It was April, 2020. I remember reading a Facebook post that had gone viral. Having no idea how to find that post today, all I can tell you is the gist of it…

This pandemic is unchartered territory. None of us know what we’re doing, how to handle the world shutting down and being stuck inside our homes with our nuclear families, or even just how to feel about what is happening. Therefore, we have got to have lots of grace for ourselves and for our children. One of the ways we can do that is by not setting limits on screen time.

Why? Because life as we know it has changed and who knows for how long? These difficult days are scary so we need to make them as easy and be as gentle with each other as we possibly can. If my kids want to play Fortnite for 9 uninterrupted hours while eating nothing but Cheetos and Oreos, I’m ok with that.

This will not last long and then we can get back to our regularly-scheduled screen time limits, back to our normal lives!

The author had more to say—I’m summarizing and likely missing valuable information—but this is what I remember. And while I think there were some good points in that post, the problem is, “this” did last longer than we thought it would and many of us became screen addicts, especially our children.

At this point, I could share a huge number of articles from medical journals highlighting dangers of too much screen time. I could cite countless studies and statistics. I could use terminology like “brain rot,” which some experts use to describe the mental lifelessness and changes in behavior that come from tech overload, but I think we all know: Too much screen time is extremely harmful and we need to set limits and boundaries for ourselves and for our children.

Summertime is the perfect time to do just that!

Your kids may just thank you one day.

In an article about the explosion of screen time for kids during the Covid crisis published on April 23, 2020 in the NY Post, a Brooklyn mom said, “It’s a habit that we are all going to have to break. It’s not something they [our children] are going to be able to break for themselves.”

To that I say, “Spot on!”

Parents, we must parent in the area of technology usage and screen time. Our kids will not parent themselves (at least, not well). In fact, it’s not even their job to parent themselves, it’s ours. So let’s set limits and set boundaries for ourselves and for our children this summer. Let’s be more intentional with our time and our relationships.

And a word of warning, setting limits and boundaries will not likely win you Favorite Parent of the Year Award. There will be pushback, but that’s to be expected. My own children pushed back when we set limits and boundaries on screen time, but now that they are all grown, they see the value and are grateful.

So, what can we do? We can put down our phones and eat together. We can turn off our TVs and go outside together. We can close our laptops and read. We can put away our iPads and take family walks. We can unplug our Xboxes and play board games together. We can stop scrolling on social media and head to the pool.

We can put down our screens and make the most of summer.